Sister Alicia Hernandez, religious education director at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Pasadena, said that Ash Wednesday begins a “season of fasting and prayer and a time for us to come back to God, if we haven’t had time during the rest of the year.”

The Holy Family Church in South Pasadena is encouraging its parishioners to take the time this Lenten season to pray and meditate, according to Frank Ponnet, the director of liturgy and adult faith formation.

Ponnet said that this Lent he is going to take a few weekend spiritual retreats so that he can “fast from busyness and feast on quietness.”

Every Lent, Holy Family hosts small groups that meet to discuss scripture, as well as movie nights. Later this week they will be showing “The Dark Knight” as a way to reflect on the theme of temptation.

During his lenten address, Cardinal Roger Mahony asked parishioners to donate money to parish schools and to keep undocumented workers in their prayers.

“Too many of our families in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been impacted by the loss of jobs, especially those hundreds of thousands with minimum-wage jobs,” Mahony said.

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